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The Lasker Foundation announced today (September 24) the recipients of their 2021 awards, which are often called “America’s Nobels.”
The 2021 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award went to Dieter Oesterhelt (Emeritus, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry), Peter Hegemann (Humboldt University of Berlin), and Karl Deisseroth (Stanford University) for their work on light-sensitive proteins known as opsins, and adapting that discovery into the field of optogenetics, which has led to new discoveries in neuroscience.
“Progress in science to some extent depends upon risky decisions of individuals. At times the results of these decisions can only be appreciated later in one’s career,” Hegemann said in his acceptance speech. “Together, we shared both the patience and the joy that comes from working in wild unexplored territories in order to bring discoveries about tiny proteins found in bacteria and algae to unexpected applications.”
The 2021 Lasker~Debakey Clinical Medical Research ...
